(MONEY Magazine) – Buying a digital video camcorder ought to be uncomplicated. But it isn't. Nearly every camera on the market comes with more features than you would ever use, or ought to use. Leave the heavy lifting of applying special effects and transitions to your video-editing software and focus your hardware purchase on reliability, lens quality, the feel of the camcorder in your hand and how well the camera compensates for the wiggle of hand-held shooting.

Sony's cameras have been consistently solid since the DV format was introduced. The DCR-TRV38, shown above, is not the most compact, but it looks and handles like a movie camera. It is just hefty enough to feel stable while you use it. Like most of Sony's cameras, the TRV38 ($900 at sonystyle.com) has a fine Carl Zeiss lens and the standard 10x zoom. Perhaps most important, it employs the best image-stabilization scheme (developed by Canon), one that actually holds the lens still instead of simulating stillness digitally. The latter scheme, used in most camcorders from Sony and others, requires shaving some of the image off the sides of the frame and slightly degrades the quality of what's left.

Sony also makes a similar but smaller camera: the DCR-PC105 ($1,000). Smaller cameras need a steadier hand, but they fit easily into packs (skydivers love them). At just a pound, it's two-thirds the weight of the DCR-TRV38. Both cameras have swivel screens, so you can see what you're taping overhead or, with children around, underfoot.

If you plan to plant a camera in the hands of a child, spend less. Consider the JVC GR-D30US (list price $500), above left, which has a nice big 16x zoom and uses digital-image stabilization to keep things more or less steady. ABTElectronics.com was selling it for $344 in late October. --T.C.F.